Thunder

A few weeks ago, we were expecting severe weather, and Thor was worrying that there might be a thunderstorm while he was at school. He said he didn’t like the loud noises. I told him, “If it does start to storm, I’m going to yell up into the sky, so when you hear the thunder you know it’s me. I’m yelling, ‘I LOVE YOU THOR!’ Only, I’m doing it in grumbly voice to make you laugh.”

He smiled. He said, “What about the lightning?”

“That’s you,” I told him. “When it lightnings, that’s you talking back to me. What will you be saying?”

He thought, then said, “I’ll be saying, ‘Yay! I love you too, Mama!'”

We had some thunder on the way to school today and he laughed, “I hear you,” he said. Then, he put on his grumbly voice and rumbled, “I LOVE YOU THOR!”

I hope that sticks with him.

A dear, dear friend of mine has a son who is just on the cusp of adulthood, and who is working through making some very important, very adult decisions that a lot of teens just dash through without thinking. She has raised a son who was willing to sit down and talk through his through his thought process with her, and while she can’t control his choices, she has parented him to understand that her guidance is valuable. That is golden.

So, when Thor was sitting on my lap this morning, snuggled up on my shoulder for morning hugs, I was praying silently, “Please let this stick. Please let this be what he remembers. Please let this level of comfort and trust grow with the boy, so that when he thinks he’s too old for hugs, he still trusts me enough to be honest.”